The Kansas City Crew
by Doc Delray
Summary: On the fringes of the UCAS is the often neglected Kansas City, the KC. A city that's just barely hanging on, until the Ares Corporation came along to buy up the cheap land. Now scores of Shadowrunners are flocking to the city for easy money and opportunities. This is the story of one group trying to make a living and survive out in this wild west town.
1. Chapter 1, Meet the Crew

It was a long road to Kansas City. This fact haunted the back of the elf's mind as his car traveled the long highway. He glanced at along the horizon with his neon blue eyes and could only see lots of fields and the occasional patch of plantlife. The AR display started to feed him tidbits of information about the weather outside the car, his GPS readout and driving conditions miles ahead. It did little to alleviate his boredom.

For the most part, this elf looked fairly typical of his kind. Humanoid with fair features, tall and having long pointed ears. He looked to be far more athletic in build than the usual slender lithe elf. Clearly cybernetic eyes shone brightly while his short black hair barely covered the datajack in his skull.

This wasn't helped by the loud country music that was coming out of the speakers right now. He ventured a glance at his passenger, a man he more commonly known as Cayman. The long ratty looking grey coat of his had been thrown over his body like a blanket while he slept curled up in the seat. He was a tall human with a rather thin physique. His long brown hair hung sloppily about his shoulders and in his face.

This long boring ride however was about to come to an end as off in the distance the growing silhouette of a city started to come into view. At that same moment they passed a sign for the destination that read _Kansas City_. Upon passing this sign, the elf jabbed his elbow into his companion's side, stirring him awake with a yelp and a long stream of curses.

"Damnit all, No Name," Cayman shouted through his southern drawl. "The fuck's wrong with you!?"

"We're almost there," the elf No Name pointed out casually.

"AND," Cayman asked with no attempt to hide the growing annoyance in his voice.

"You asked me to wake you when we got there."

"G'damn asshole," Cayman grumbled while he sat up in his seat. "Remind me why we're come'in out here tah Kansas City, boss? Could be haul'in our asses tah any place on the globe ta do this drek. Like somewhere with a beach, booze an' barely clothed girls."

"Two words my southern fried friend," No Name replied with a smirk. " _Easy_. _Money_. Ares has been moving out here to set up shop on the cheap land out here. They put out a call for any Runners looking to make some nuyen, which we are currently lacking."

Cayman couldn't help but flinch at the reminder of their slowly dwindling savings. "Fair point, still, what sort'a work could a Shadowrunner do out here? Stop cattle thieves an' such?"

"When we meet this new Fixer you can ask him."

At the edge of the city a slapdash looking barricade had been set up with with Lone Star and a group of uniformed mercs. A quick scan of an arm badge on one and No Name's HUD quickly displayed the name _Thunderhawks_ along with a cut down readout about the group. It was a checkpoint of sorts. Groups of armed killers for hire were stopping vehicles at the edge of the city before letting them enter.

"Please tell me you remembered to get that fake SIN like I told you," No Name pleaded.

"I got it, I got it," Cayman assured him before pulling a manila envelope from one of the many duffle bags in the car.

"That better not be some cheap copy machine job. Not after I loaned you the dosh to get it."

"No way, boss," he said with a proud smirk. "Got ol' Squiggy tah hook me up with the good stuff."

"Squiggy," No Name nearly shouted. "That strung out BTL junkie, you're gonna trust him to make a SIN for you?"

"The man does good wok," Cayman assured him. "When ya catch'em sober."

"Have you even checked that thing?"

Cayman stopped short of replying, eyes now locked on the card in his hand while the wheels in his head visibly turned. Curious and cautious, he took the card out of envelope and actually gave it a closer look. His eyes went wide when he saw the face of a fat dwarven woman from Indonesia staring back at him with the name _Carl McLove_.

"Oh, fuck," were the only words Cayman could muster. "Maybe they won't notice?"

In a panic, the elf looked to see that there was only one car ahead of them. Thankfully it had an elderly couple that was loudly arguing with one of the Thunderhawks and poking him with his cane. Thinking quickly, No Name snatched the card from his partner's hand and crushed it. He then took the cigarette lighter from the console and started burning it around the picture and barcode before handing it back to him.

"Let me do all the talking," No Name suggested.

"Usually do."

Having a gun in his face wasn't anything new for either No Name or Cayman, their lifestyle usually caused that to happen quite often. So the moment they found their vehicle surrounded by four armed guards with the best armor and firepower money could buy, they didn't flinch.

"Gentlemen," one of the Lone Stars greeted them. "What brings you to Kansas City?"

"Work," No Name said with a big smile. "Heard about a lot of reconstruction about to go on out here with Ares setting up shop. Buddy an' I were hoping to get in on the group floor of it."

"Here's hoping they actually make good on the promises they've been making us out here," the officer said with a chuckle. "Mind letting us take a look at your SINs fellas?"

Without hesitation No Name handed over his. He wasn't worried about his SIN failing, he'd gone top dollar making sure the thing would come back as damn near perfect. As far as they new, he really was Phillip Castwell. It was Cayman's that he was concerned would fail on them. Already he could see the stern look the other officer was giving him over the state of the card.

"There was a bit of an accident at our last job site," No Name explained. "Young punks on the job site were horsing around with a blow torch, Carl's wallet got cooked. You know how expensive it can be to replace these cards and how many forms you need to fill out."

They simply handed Cayman his card back with a stern warning to get it replaced soon. In the meantime they instead focussed on checking No Name's background and legality. He kept a close watch on them as they ran his number, mindful of their body language and reminding himself of the pistol under both seats if things got dicey. So far though everything seemed to be going according to plan.

"So why the checkpoint," No Name asked.

"Rumor has it there's a whole mess of Shadowrunners flocking to the city," the talkative one answered. "Life out here on the outskirts of the UCAS can be tough enough. The last thing we need are paramilitary psychopaths mowing folks down in their crossfires."

It didn't take too much longer before they handed the elf back his card and waved him through the checkpoint. Entering the city itself was a strange and almost surreal moment for the two. Kansas wasn't like any other modern city, mostly because it clearly wasn't. Setting foot in the KC was like stepping back in time. No mile tall billboards decked out in neon lights with a thousand adds running at once. No smog choked skies full of Lone Star gunships and even more god damned adverts. The city looked to be perpetually locked in the early 2000's, before the awakening, before the world had changed forever. To say that it lacked the chrome and shine of more modern cities was an understatement.

"Oh yeah, looks like there's tons'a money tah be made out here," Cayman quipped as they passed through a long stretch of abandoned houses in what used to be a suburb.

While the outskirts were crumbling and abandoned by all but squatters and burnouts, the heart of the city was still pumping. It was here that No Name and Cayman found their destination. A little bar and grill called _Spence's Place_. With what few concealable weapons they were told they could bring to this meet the pair left the sub-compact with a grateful groan and much needed stretch before heading inside.

Inside was clean, surprisingly so considering the drive they just had. The air was heavy with the sweet smell of cooked meat and veggies as well as the hard snap of strong liquor and cigar smoke. Soft soothing music played over the speakers to help create a very relaxing atmosphere. More than a few customers and staff gave the pair an odd look as they wandered in, clearly not following the dress code of at least having a tie.

Before any kind of incident could occur, the concierge quickly intercepted them and guided them to a room at the back of the restaurant. Without a word, No Name and Cayman trudged their way to the back room and out of sight of the fine paying folks. With as silent as the entire place had become their boots echoed deafeningly off the hardwood floors.

They were quickly ushered into a rather sizable private room that looked akin to someone's study. A few bookshelves lined the the walls, filled to the brim with actual printed books. Pieces of art helped to liven up any empty spaces the shelves did not cover. At the far end several chairs were aligned near a roaring fireplace and at the center of the room a large dinner table had been set up and loaded down with the various dishes provided by the establishment. The pair were not alone however, there were others who occupied this room already.

The first was young girl that barely gave them a glance as she continued to help herself to a stack of food, the majority of which looked to be sweets. She was a small undernourished whelp with pale skin and bright red hair that fell sloppily around her shoulders. Her lithe frame nearly vanished inside of a fur lined parka that had clearly been meant for someone larger and had seen far better days. Around her neck a tattoo were what looked to be a line of lizards placed head to tail that looked to loop all the way around. She sat reclined her chair and fully engrossed in the AR feed from the pair of heavily teched out goggles she wore.

The second person of note seemed to have little care for much else beyond the rather large black jungle cat he lavished with attention. Almond toned skin, dark eyes and well kempt long black hair gave this man a rather handsome appearance. From the look of him he was anything but physically imposing yet there was an aura that surrounded him. Even with his cybernetic eyes, No Name could never see this aura but to Cayman it was impossible to miss. For a Shadowrunner he was very well dressed in a long dark coat and fine clean clothes.

At the head of the room, beside the fire and nursing a glass of scotch, stood a man that saluted the pair with a nod of his head as they entered. He was a middle aged man with slicked back black hair and dark eyes. The fire danced across his grinning visage creating an almost devilish appearance in his worn features. He wore a well pressed and clearly tailor made suit that screamed "I have more money than you," at the runners. Clearing his throat he happily greated No Name and Cayman.

"Ah, good, our other two have finally arrived," he said with a smile. "Come in boys, help yourself to some food, take a minute to rest and relax. After all, Spence takes care of the Shadowrunners working for him."

"Well thank ye kindly, sir," Cayman joyfully replied before helping himself to whatever caught his eye. "Real fine spread ye got here too sir, reminds me'a back home."

No Name wasn't far behind his companion. Grabbing a plate and helping himself a few choice dishes and pouring a tall glass of beer. A wash of cold bitter liquid poured down his throat and sent a relaxing wave through his entire body.

Spence then gestured towards the young woman. "This, erm, _charming_ young lady goes by the name Salamander."

The introduction only managed to tease out a grunt in response as she stayed deep in her matrix surfing and occasional snacking.

"And the man with the big cat is Yoatl."

"And the big cat's name is Ralla," Yoatl was quick to point out with a shred of annoyance in his tone. "And these two are?"

"Call me No Name," the elf replied. "The good'ol boy beside me is Cayman."

"Those are stupid names," Salamander chimed in while still looking to be busy ignoring the room.

"Well this is going well," Spence said with a clearly plastic smile. "Now then, I've got an upfront business to go maintain for moment, when I return we'll discuss your first mission. Until I get back, take your time to get to know one another."

The room remained quiet for an eternity of five whole minutes after Spence left them on their own. That was until No Name spoke up. "So, guess we're working together," he said. "We should lay out what we bring to the table, so that we know where our strengths lie. I know my way around a sword and a gun, got my fair share of cyberware plugged into me and I've got some real good people skills.

Cayman had been several bites into a slice of pie when No Name jabbed him in the side with his elbow again. "Not too much tah say 'bout me. Got some magic spells tah make me sprier than a jackrabbit in spring. Top'a that I'm real good with a pair of pistols."

"I thought I sensed an energy about you," Yoatl recalled. "I'm a mage myself, and Ralla is my life long companion and protector."

The panther gave a low rumbling growl to emphasise the point her master was making.

All eyes slowly and rather awkwardly found themselves resting on Salamander expectantly. But the young girl didn't answer or look up from her comlink. Instead she just kept surfing the matrix and snacking on whatever was in reach.

"Sooooooo, Sal," No Name finally spoke up. "What is it you do?"

At that she came to a screeching halt. She slowly lifted her goggles to fix the elf with a rueful glare in her green eyes. "I'm your tech support. I hack things. And if you call me 'Sal' again, I'll brick your fucking cybereyes."

"But it's a good nickname, real strong."

"I don't care, call me Salamander."

"I'm telling ya, Sal'll catch on."

"No it won't."

Before things could escalate much further, Spence returned from his duties around the the establishment. "I trust we're all getting along in here."

"You bet we are," No Name quickly replied with a wide smile across his face.

"Good, good," Spence said as he poured himself another scotch. "Well I've got some bad news, your fifth man is going to be delayed. Small incident coming into the city. But not to worry, this first job'll be a regular milk run. Think of it as my way of testing how you lot'll work as a team."

"Bout that," Cayman chimed in. "What ye got in store fer us?"

"And what does it pay," Yoatl added.

"Pay's pretty standard, three hundred nuyen apiece, plus bonuses depending on how you perform the job," Spence assured the room. "Job's super simple, our client would like us to look into why a formally empty warehouse downtown now suddenly has a full security detail and chain fence around it. They are willing to pay extra if you manage to find out what's being stored there."

"Any stipulations on how we handle this," No Name asked.

"None," Spence answered. "How you approach this is up to your discretion, although, it would be prefered if the facility and its contents were not damaged."

"Time frame," the cybered up elf asked.

"Tonight," Spence said with a grin. "I assured the client that I would give them the results of our recon tomorrow and we always deliver on time."

"Go ahead and finish your meals," Spence added. "After all, no point in Shadowrunning on an empty stomach. Oh, and, for future reference, use the employee entrance around back. My establishment's clentell are not to have their meals disturbed."


	2. Chapter 2, A milk run

"Place don't look like much, does it," Cayman commented as they drove past their target destination.

There was wave of relief washed over No Name as the car drove past the warehouse. It had felt like a much longer drive from Spence's with Cayman and Salamander arguing over who had control over the radio. The target was just as they'd been told, run of the mill storage facility with a tall chain link fence around the place with several Thunderhawks patrolling the grounds.

No Name's car traveled a good two blocks past their target. It was a quick drive by recon of the area before unloading somewhere out of sight. Without a word he moved to the trunk of his car and started to grab his arsonal. A hefty Predator pistol on one hip while a katana hung from the other, a bandolier preloaded with various ammo mags and a few grenades and finally an assault rifle that he set about giving it a quick check.

Likewise, Cayman grabbed his own gear from the racks in the trunk. A pair of rather nasty looking revolvers and a few belts of ammunition. All of which vanished beneath his trench coat. He shot No Name and excited grin as he grabbed a few grenades of his own and hid them on himself.

"Holy fuck," Salamander spoke up as she looked over the weapons. "Is this going to be a recon or an occupation?"

"Never hurts to be prepared," No Name countered. "You two are packing right?"

"More than you could comprehend," Yoatl smugly replied with a few sparks from his finger tips. "But yes, I do have a pistol as well." He opened his coat to show the semi auto number in its concealed holster. "This isn't my first time as a runner."

Without a word Salamander produced a small snub nosed revolver from within her massive parka. Upon seeing this there were a few chuckles and snorts from the more heavily armed members of the group.

"Ya steal that from a toy store," Cayman asked between a fits of laughter. "Don't think I've ever seen someone use a cap gun on one'a these jobs a'fore."

With a string of obscenities she put the pistol back in her coat. "Whatever," She snapped at them in a huff before retrieving her cyberdeck from the back seat. It was a beaten and pieced together piece of hardware. Cobbled together with the guts and pieces of what was probably other decks. It lacked any fancy frills save for various anime stickers plastered all over it, some of which looked to be holding the contraption together. "This is the most powerful weapon I need."

Geared up and ready for action, the team of runners cut through several back allies. They stayed to the shadows and away from the street as they slinked their way towards the warehouse. From the shadows of the alleyway the team scoped out the target area while safely out of view, watching the movements of the guards and picking out any cameras.

"How you wanna handle this, boss," Cayman quietly asked.

"I have a spell that could render some of us invisible," Yoatl stated proudly. "With it someone could slip past the guards and cameras undetected. Once inside they will dispatch the guards quietly and quickly before shutting down the security and letting the rest of us inside. Then, using flash bangs and illusionary magic we can blind the guards inside in order to-"

"How about we put that down as plan B," No Name suggested. "In the meantime, I've got a plan, lot quieter and not as messy."

"And what plan would that be," Yoatl asked.

"You'll see in just a minute," No Name assured him. "First thing's first, we need to get Sal into their system."

"Still not my name," the hacker hissed at him.

* * *

With a bit of searching they found exactly what they needed to gain access to the security system's intranet. A lone camera posted in on of the side allies to watch the facility form the streets. Cayman was more than happy to show off his aforementioned magically enhanced physical skills. Easily hopping from wall to wall in order to reach the camera and attach USB cable Salamander needed. Hooking it into her goggles and deck the young hacker quickly found herself leaving meat space and finally returning to cyberspace.

In here, reality was what the code made of it, and her code demanded something far more fitting. Gone was the frail form of a lithe girl in its place was a creature of fire and wrath. In this world she took on the appearance of a reptilian woman with four arms and bright orange scales. Flames perpetually licked her smoldering scales and danced at the edges of her eyes. In the matrix she became a true salamander of myth.

Trillions of ones and zeroes had created the self contained virtual world that was laid out before her. A rather orderly assembly of nodes and junctions that reflected the military mindset of those that set the network up. No imagination, no creativity to it, just streamlined order. Salamander let a toothy grin stretch across her maw at the thought of how laughably easy this was going to be.

The node she needed sat behind a wall of IC that to the young hacker looked to have been established on the fly. Clearly this had all been set up in a hurry to keep an eye on this place. In meatspace her fingers deftly flew across the keys of her cyberdeck while in cyberspace her hacking took on a far more impressive form. Flames danced along her claws till they glowed brightly with heat. Their fiery tips sank deeply into the IC causing it crack and crumble into scattered code.

Gleefully she grasped the node she'd been looking for, wreathing it in fire. A wondrous visual effect just for her amusement to represent taking control of the security cameras. With a wave of one of her three other limbs she summoned chat window.

In the real world, No Name's comlink buzzed with a message. "Phase one complete."

With a smirk the elf quickly typed in a response to the hacker.

* * *

"I still think my plan was better," Yoatl said quietly to the group. "It's not too late to change our minds."

"This'll work," No Name assured him. "Just relax and follow my lead."

The heavily armed elf lead his ragtag group to the front gate of the warehouse's fence. Immediately they were intercepted by a pair of orks in Thunderhawk gear. "Whoa there buddy," the one with a few extra markings on her patch said with his hand on his sidearm. "This place is off limits."

"I'm aware of that," No Name replied. "My crew an' I are here for the night shift."

"Night shift," he asked in confusion. "You're look'in at the night shift chummer."

"I got my orders right here omae," the elf exclaimed and showed email on his comlink. "Says to come out here to this facility, at this time and guard the place."

"Well, I mean, it looks official," the ork admitted. "But this still seems a bit out of sorts, our CO never mentioned a night shift coming to relieve us."

"Look, if you guys are having some communication problems that's on you," No Name pointed out. "But my team an' I are supposed to get paid hourly for coming all the way out here. C'mon, my buddy over here's got three kids he's try'in to feed!"

"Child support's a bitch lemme tell ya," Cayman groused.

"I know where you're coming from pal," the ork assured him. "Lemme just dial in the confirmation code and it'll be all yours."

Tensions started to rise over No Name's shoulders. Maybe it was that "elven senses" junk he'd been told about by a tree nuzzler, or maybe it was years of experience. Either way he could feel the nerves of his teammates starting to stand on end as they all prepared for the bullet storm if this code failed. On the outside No Name stayed calm and friendly, but on the inside he was mentally reaching for his sword hilt to slice this guy's neck open.

The ork looked over the group once again, eyeing them all cautiously for a moment before looking back at his comlink. His partner patted the shotgun he'd been carrying with a hand dangerously close to the pistol grip. The ork in charge brought his comlink to his mouth and spoke. "Boys, pack it in, half shift tonight."

There was a sudden wave of relief as eight more Thunderhawks piled out of the warehouse. All of them having casual conversation with one another and barely paying any attention to the mercs taking their place. In the span of around ten minutes they had been given the keys to the warehouse and the complete run of the place.

"Told ya it'd work," No Name smuggly reminded everyone as he strolled towards the front door. "Cayman, Yoatl, keep up appearances out here would ya, Sal, you an' me are gonna check this place out."

"Salamander," she hissed through bared teeth as she followed him inside.

Inside was exactly what one would expect from a storage facility. Walls and shelves stacked with boxes and crates throughout the place. The pair gave the place a quick once over to make sure no stragglers were still hanging around the place before going to work.

"You got all of the cameras right," No Name asked with a nod towards a wall mounted one watching the floor.

"Tch, my work was flawless," she proudly declared. "They're on a loop that'll last for two hours. I even traced their system to an offsite facility where they're monitoring and storing the footage."

"I admit, I'm impressed."

"You should be."

From his HUD a prompt popped up to let the elf know his cybereyes were now recording everything that he saw. Snatching a crowbar from a toolbox, he set about prying one of the crates open. It didn't take him much effort to crack open the closest crate, finding it stuffed with packing straw and something else.

"What is that," Salamander asked.

"Old junk," No Name replied as he lifted an old fifth world military flak jacket out of the wooden box. "This old drek couldn't stop a round from that pae shooter of yours. But if we could find the whole set you could rock a wicked retro look at the club."

"I don't club," she snapped at him before they moved to the next crate. "Looks like old gun parts and stuff in this one."

The pair went from crate to crate, prying them open and examining the contents. All the while, No Name recorded all of their findings before returning the boxes to relatively the same state they'd found them in. Each one contained weapons, tools, vehicle parts, all from nearly a hundred years ago. Even one that contained a map of the Kansas City area and several documents of redacted material. But the last box contained the most important find of all.

Opening the lid, Salamander and No Name were greeted by the sight of piles upon piles of little tin containers marked MRE. Cautiously the elf reached in and took one out before peeling off the lid. With a playful grin he looked towards the hacker. "Hey Sal, I'll pay you twenty nuyen to eat one of these."

"Again, not my name," she reminded him. "Also, that's like stupid old, like you. I've eaten literal garbage but I'm not about to eat that."

"You should hope you look this good at eighty five little girl," he retorted. "Thirty?"

"I am, I am not eating that for thirty nuyen," she said resisted with a slight falter in her tone. "Not for thirty."

"Fifety?"

* * *

While No Name and Salamander mulled over the containers in the warehouse, Cayman and Yoatl kept watch on things outside while Ralla stalked about. The pair stood propped up against either side of the door. Yoatl looked less than thrilled about his role thus far while Cayman had started to amuse himself spinning the cylinder of one of his revolvers.

"I still think my plan would've worked," Yoatl spoke up.

"Don't pay ol' No Name no mind," Cayman suggested with a smirk. "Just the way he is. Was the number two in our old crew, got him used tah give'in orders."

"What happened to the old crew," Yoatl asked.

Cayman paused for a moment and said with a sigh. "A bad run that got way out'a hand chum," he reluctantly told him. "That's all I'd like ta say on the subject if'n ya mind."

Once again a silence had settled between them as they continued to watch the gate. A quiet that was only broken up by the sounds of the city's nightlife far off in the distance and the sounds of an amused panther as she batted a can around. This relative peace wouldn't last much longer as a group started to slowly gather near the gate. They were a collection of young men and women from various meta types all dressed in whatever hip swag they could afford and all unified by two things. One was the color red which had been worked into their joint motif in whatever way they could, from bandanas, articles of clothing and even just bands or red cloth tied around limbs and the like. The other was three words scrolled across whatever it could fit on, Crimson Try-Hards.

A rather bold member of this gang grabbed the chainlink wall in front of him and put his full weight against it. "Oi, omae," he called out loudly to the two on the other side. "Open this gate man, we gotta get in here."

Cayman shot Yoatl an amused look before giving the ganger his full attention. "Ya don't say chummer," he replied with a chuckle. "An' why would I wanna do that?"

"This was our hangout man," he pointed out. "Left some stuff behind and we just wanna go grab it real quick."

"That really the best ya got," Cayman asked with an amused chuckle. "C'mon man, who was that line supposed tah even work on?"

"Look man, we heard there's some choice gear in here," the supposed leader of these gangers said. "You let us pick over the swag an' I'll make it worth your while. C'mon omae, I'm being real diplomatic like right now. You guys are like mercs an' shit right, you do what people pay you to?"

"Yeah, like you're gonna be able to afford the price tag on my loyalty," Cayman laughed as he said this. "You kids aught'a run back home 'afore y'all get hurt."

"You should reconsider, chummer," the ganger said and lifted the edges of his oversized jersey to show off the pistol tucked into his waistband with a confident grin. "See, there's two'a you and like a bunch'a us. Numbers ain't on your side bitch. Now open this fucking gate before ya get hurt."

Cayman grinned from ear to ear after being threatened. In the blink of an eye he all but vanished from sight only to appear behind the leader of the group. If it hadn't been for the cold metal of his Rugger's barrel pressed against the ganger's head, he might not have even noticed Cayman suddenly behind him. Many of the CTH members panicked and ran after this superhuman display, leaving their leader with what might have been the only five loyal to him.

"Aight slick, let's see how them numbers a'yours add up."

* * *

No Name watched in disbelief as Salamander downed the remainder of the MRE's contents with a satisfied belch. "Not the worst thing I've eaten."

Just as the elf was fishing around in his pocket for his cred-stick there was the unmistakable sound of a gunshot followed by another one immediately afterwards. No Name unslung his rifle and bolted for the door at an inhuman pace while Salamander lingered a moment to pile an armful of MRE's into her parka before pulling out her pistol and following after him. The elven soldier threw his foot into the door with full force, sending it flying open in his wake. Weapon ready he reeled around to find Cayman with his pistols drawn at the center of a small collection of gangers with two bodies at his feet.

"And this was such a quiet night too," No Name complained as he took aim with his weapon.

The sensor mounted in the gun took over and linked directly into the elf's HUD. A targeting reticle appeared and zeroed in on the nearest ganger. In the span of a thought the smartlink system predicted drift and kick from the weapon and marked bullet placement. With a squeeze of the trigger, No Name sent a burst of three rounds screaming towards his target. The unarmored gang member that had been fumbling with a shotgun was struck in the chest, neck and head before falling to the ground.

The two gang members left alive turned and tried to run for theirs when it was clear just how quickly the tide had turned on them. They didn't get very far however as a large black shape came bounding out the shadows and tackled one of them to the ground. The other was struck in the back by a round after a loud crack. Over his shoulder, No Name saw the hacker with her "cap gun" and a smug look on her face.

"Ralla, no," Yoatl said sternly to the panther. "Drop it!"

Purring loudly the massive black cat playfully refused to let go of her prey. A rather unfortunate dwarf who's head hung at an awkward angle while Ralla's mouth was clamped around his neck. Her master tried to pry this treat away from her only for it to become a game of keep away.

Forcing his attention away from this odd scene, No Name took a quick moment to examine the rest of the damage that had been done. Mainly Cayman's kills. One had a ragged stump where his head should be while the other looked like he'd swallowed a grenade. Cayman in particular was speckled with the remains of his two opponents.

"Explosive rounds," the elf asked the gunslinger with barely restrained ire. "You loaded freak'in hand cannons with explosive rounds!?"

"Now as I recall, y'all never said I wasn't allowed to," Cayman was fast to point out. "Sides, way I see it, we just put the fear'a god in them. Won't be give'in us no trouble for a good while after the scare we just gave 'em."

No Name rubbed the bridge of his nose and tried to restrain his boiling anger with a deep breath. "You aren't wrong, technically. But next time, maybe check with me about shooting random street toughs? You know, so we don't get labeled as trigger happy ametures."

The elven soldier looked down at the corpses around him and added. "I think I have a way to turn this to our advantage though."

Without a word he took the keycard from his jacket and slipped it into the pocket of headless corpse. "And now we're heroes."

"That's fucking evil," Salamander said, her voice beaming with pride and a smile across her face. "Not bad for an old man."


	3. Chapter 3, Animal Mother

Spence had been more than pleased with how his latest team of runners had managed to complete their job. True to his word he'd even included a few hundred extra nuyen to the group's payment for their creativity and the extra information that Salamander had recovered. There had even been a few hundred more when the dead gangers were framed for attacking the warehouse. The trip to Kansas City was starting to pay off for everyone involved.

There was some down time before the next job was brought to them, plenty of time to get settled in with the city and find a place to hand your flack jacket. All except for Yoatl. According to him he had a place in the city already and was very insistent that none of them go anywhere near it. The others however had found a place on Spence's recommendation. One with nearly livable conditions where no one ever asks questions. It was a rundown hotel that might have been something impressive before the city fell into the sorry state it was in. At least it had four walls, a ceiling, electricity that almost didn't flicker all the time, matrix access and running water as long as you didn't want to drink the stuff.

More importantly to No Name, they had a place where he could go over the recording his eyes had made during that run. The AR projection on his HUD flipped through freeze frames of points of interest to the elf. The documents for starters. While he hadn't read any of them at the time he'd gone through them page by page to make sure he'd have the chance to do so later. The majority of the information of redacted by thick black lines across whole lines of text leaving only one or two words. What really grabbed his attention though was the dates on them going as far back to around 2018 and the old symbology of the old US of A.

While the dates and times might be significant, any other information had been edited out and forced No Name to move to something else. The maps. With a quick matrix search he brought up a current map of the KC and compared the two, it was almost saddening how little the area had changed in all these decades. What's more, areas in the rural countrysides outside of town were marked. For what purpose, he couldn't begin to guess.

He could've spent the entire night staring at these barely useful tidbits but the buzz of his comlink suggested he might have new plans.

* * *

This latest meeting with Spence was a far cry from the private dining room with cold aged scotch and fresh steak. Instead they were meeting in the back storage room with a six pack and a couple of sandwiches from the local Stuffer Shack. At the very least the beer was cold.

"Gotta admit, you four impressed me," Spence happily told the runners. "Took a lot of balls to march right up to the gate like that and talk them into letting you work their shift for them. And then what do you do? You frame some of the local punks for trying to raid the place and collect a reward from Lone Star!"

"We aim to please," No Name happily assured him. "But you didn't call us in to stroke our egos did ya."

"And waste my finest cheapest beer, of course not," Spence replied with a tooth grin across his face while helping himself to a bottle. "I've got your next job lined up of course."

"Our generous client did a bit more digging after going over Ms. Salamander's discovery of an offsite facility," Spence informed them.

"Tch, you mean some scrubby script kiddie piggie backed off of MY work and acted like they did something useful," Salamander said with a snarl.

"And found out that there are a lot more places that Ares's junkyard dogs are keeping an eye on," Spence was fast to add. "Job's pretty straight forward, go in and find out what they're looking at and if possible, why."

"An' the pay," Cayman asked.

"Base payment will be four hundred apiece," Spence replied. "Depending on how you go about completing the mission will determine any bonus pay."

"Will this be another last minute job," Yoatl asked as he fed the panther beside him a few slices of roast beef.

"Take all the time you need," Spence said. "The outpost isn't going anywhere."

"Oh, but there is one other thing," Spence added. "Your fifth man finally arrived, he'll be joining you on this mission."

On Spence's signal a massive figure lumbered through the doorway and into the room. He stood shoulders above any of them, rising high above them with a thick heavy build. His greyish skin and large twisted horns marked him as a troll. A thick bushy black beard hung from his chin a barely hid the long protruding tusks. Over his body armor and gear he wore a thick military style trench coat that barely hid the fact that his right arm was cybernetic. He took a moment to sum up his companions with his beady gold eyes.

"Everyone, meet Animal Mother," Spence proudly said.

" _Czesc_ ," he grunted through a thick accent.

"Welcome to the team," No Name said with his best plastic smile. "So what is it you do?"

"I am trained in number of things," the troll replied. "Specifically in the operation of heavier weapons, high yield explosives and the maintaining of firearms."

"Interest'in accent ya got there, comrade," Cayman said with a friendly smile. "Dose be done ya an' all that."

Animal leaned in uncomfortably close to Cayman, eyes locked with his and burning with hate. "I am not Russian, I am Polish. But you are ignorant American though, so I will forgive this. This time."

"Real charmer," No Name commented with a glance towards Spence.

"I hired him for his firepower," Spence sternly pointed out. "Not his social skills. That's your job."

"Speaking of job," the elf added. "Don't suppose you've got a truck or something laying around that we could borrow. Don't think he's gonna fit in the car."

"Not to worry," Spence assured him. "I have exactly what you need."

* * *

"This is very demeaning," Animal Mother grumbled.

The thick towering troll had been squeezed into what had once been a horse trailer that had been hooked to the back of No Name's car. Even in a vehicle that had been designed to transport full grown equines could just barely accommodate his shear size. Tight quarters had become even tighter with the troll's personal arsenal loaded in with him, a large machine gun and weathered looking axe amongst them.

"Think of it as a temporary fix," the elf suggested. "After a couple thousand nuyen in our pockets we'll get a big ol' van or something to stuff ya into instead."

As the rest of the team was starting to pile into the car, No Name waved Yoatl over to the horse trailer. "Oi, magic man, would you mind loading your house cat into the pet carrier this time?"

"I beg your pardon," Yoatl scoffed looking clearly hurt and annoyed by this request, a sentiment that Ralla seemed to mirror. "Ralla is no meere house cat. Besides, I wouldn't want her to eat our new companion."

"Firstly," No Name pointed out. "I'm pretty sure he heard everything you just said."

"I hear everything he just said," Animal Mother chimed from inside the carrier.

"He can hear everything you just said," No Name reiterated. "Secondly, your precious kitty left a black fur carpet on my seats last time and takes up too much room in the damn car."

"Fine," the wizard said with a great deal of reluctance. "But be weary troll, Ralla is far more than she appears and will not hesitate to relieve you of your other arm!"

Animal gave Yoatl a challenging snarl as he commanded the panther to remain in the trailer. And with that the team was piled into the four seater and heading down the road. It didn't take long before Cayman and Salamander were snapping at one another about what station the radio should be set to. One wanted golden age country hits and the other demanded JPop top one hundred. All the while, No Name's imagination drifted to the emergency pistol under his seat and how he could just shoot the radio and be done with it.

At the edges of the city's east end the rampant disrepair was on grand display all around them. The burnt out remains of what had been shops and businesses flanked them on all sides like jagged teeth in a broken maw. Entire walls were caked with crowded images and tags from the local gangs trying to make names for themselves. The Crimson Try-Hards were looking to be the most vocal in the graffiti war.

"So how we handle'in this one, boss," Cayman asked. "Could jus' blitz em real quick like."

"If I may," Yoatl spoke up from the backseat.

"Like you weren't gonna anyways," Salamander mumbled.

"I've been taking note of the numerous buildings that line all sides of the streets," Yoatl continued. "Perhaps if both No Name and this, Animal Mother, were to set up on either side of the enemy base they could rain bullets on the base. Then, during the confusion, the rest of us will use the sewers to position ourselves directly under the main building of the base. Using a powerful acid spell, I shall melt our way into the-" his words hung in his throat as the car came to a complete stop across the street from the Thunderhawk base. "What the drek are you doing!?"

"Trust me," the elf replied with a confident smile before getting out of the car. "You guys get Animal and the cat out of the trailer, I'm gonna go have a chat with what I hope is the valet."

This location was far more impressive and clearly a much more professional job then that warehouse from the other night. Tall concrete walls surrounded the place with barbed wire lining the tops. A chain link gate kept the entrance of this base secured. As No Name drew closer he could see a couple of prefab buildings that had been set up around the area, out of them he could recognize a garage and what looked like a barracks. It wasn't hard to spot all the lights and cameras that had been set up around the place. Not surprising in the least was the fact that when he got close to the gate several armed men now had their assault rifles trained on him.

"Step away from the gate," one of them ordered loudly.

"Whao, truce omae," the elf pleaded. "My crew and me are here looking for work."

* * *

Yoatl wasted no time in making a b-line for the door of the horse trailer. Already his mind was painting any manner of grim gorey scene that might await him when he opened them. But as he threw open the doors to the trailer what he saw froze him in shock. There, at the back of the horse trailer, was his companion and protector, Ralla, purring loudly and mewling as this thuggish brute of a meta-human rubbed her belly and under her chin.

" _Kto jest ladnym kotem_ ," he cooed in his thick native tongue at the happy jungle cat that was practically in his lap at this point.

* * *

No Name didn't have a long time to wait before the one person he was hoping to talk to showed up. Out of all the Thunderhawks he'd seen since coming to the KC, this one had a more formal uniform than the rest with what looked like an officer's insignia on his arm and pips on his collar. He was a tall broad human that clearly was no stranger to the same hardships as those under his command.

"I'm Major Robert T. Rodan," he said to No Name before scanning an eye over rest of the team as they started to file in behind him. "And you people would be?"

"Would you believe heavily armed salesmen," the elf asked with a playful grin. Just as he'd hoped he got an amused chuckle from this Rodan. "We're Shadowrunners, the ones that helped save your warehouse last night actually."

"And," Rodan asked with a bemused look on his weathered face.

"See, the gang and I've been looking around the KC for some reliable work," the elf added. "Being new an' all, our Fixer is kind of reluctant to hand us some of the jobs that come up. Thought we'd see if we curried any favor for saving that warehouse of yours."

"Well, we ain't shot you lot, yet," Rodan replied while sizing up the group. "Well, you look badass enough. Yeah, I might have something for ya."

The team of Shadowrunners got their fair share of dirty looks as they were escorted into the outpost. Even with the seemingly friendly demeanor of their commanding officer, most looked ready to put a bullet or fifty into them. All the while, No Name tried to capture every image he could via his cybernetic eyes. The layout of the base, some kind of headcount, weapons loadouts, any visible defenses and countermeasures, any intel that might come in handy. All while on the way to a briefing room in the main building of the base.

"So here's what I got on hand," Rodan said to the team. "Lately, Ares has been trying to do some goodwill stuff out here in the KC. Soften folks hearts and show them that it might be a good thing to have a mega corp move in. Tons of jobs, fresh economy, whatever it takes to get nuyen pumping through the city's veins again."

With a motion of his hand the board behind him blinked to life and started to display a map of the area. "We've been authorized to start hiring up and even recruiting any Shadowrunners we can to help facilitate this. Especially out in the rurals and farmlands."

"Bet this is gonna be another milk run," Cayman mumbled to anyone that could hear.

"Right now, the only thing I can offer you is a job working security out on one of these farms," the Major said.

"Called it," Cayman muttered.

No Name gave the gunslinger a hard nudge in his ribs with his elbow before speaking up. "Shadowrunners playing security guard for a bunch of farmers? Major, ain't that a bit extreme?"

"Absolutely," Rodan said with a grin. "And that's exactly what we need right now."

With another wave the image shifted to show what looked to be still shots taken from some kind of battle taken from the point of view of someone who was there. On one side there was what looked to obviously be other Shadowrunners with several of them being in various stages of cyberware enhancement. On the other was a group of cloaked in the ragged remains of robes and uniform combat armor.

"We have no idea who these bastards are, but they keep making raids on a number of the farms," Major Rodan continued. "They've been showing up out of nowhere since a few weeks ago. We suspect they're part of some kind of local gang or militia trying to make a statement, but as of yet we haven't heard any kind of demands."

"Is no gang," Animal pointed out bluntly. "Gangers are undisciplined, wild dogs who seek only money or next fix. This is insurgency group."

"Based on," Rodan questioned the troll.

"Is how I would do in old country," he replied with a toothy grin.

"Then why not attack a target with more strategic value," Yoatl asked. "A weapons depot or an Ares convoy?"

"More importantly," No Name chimed in. "How much does this pay?"

"A cool two hundred," Rodan said. "Paid daily of course for the course of a week. Afterwards you can re-up for another week if you choose to."

"Tch, pass," Salamander curtly declared. "I'm a hacker, I don't do farms or anywhere else without a matrix connection. And I sure as hell don't do firefights."

"How about it Major," No Name spoke up. "Be a shame to send someone with her talents home."

"I suppose you could lend a hand with the control center," Rodan considered carefully. "Under strict supervision of course."

"I still get paid," Salamander quickly asked.

"Of course."

"Fine," Salamander agreed. "But I'm using MY deck, your factory standard drek isn't going to be up to my standards."

"Now that that's settled," No Name said with a smile. "There's just one little technical issue I was hoping I could discuss with you, sir."

"That being," the Major asked cautiously.

"I'm sure you saw that humble road cruiser I parked across the street," he recalled. "Thing is, I'm not sure if she'll make it out to those farmlands, especially when I gotta drag a bionic troll around behind me. I don't suppose you could maybe lend us something a bit better suited for the rougher terrain?"


	4. Chapter 4, Down on the farm!

The quiet tranquility of the outlying rurals beyond the city limits of the KC was suddenly shattered that afternoon. All around the local wildlife scurried about with their day to day business. Birds sang in their nearby trees or from atop telephone poles that hadn't been used in decades. Nature's ambient song drifted about on the soft fall breeze with an air of tranquility until it was swiftly silenced by the roar of a powerful engine.

From the other side of a blind hill came large armored transport that managed to get a good couple of inches off the ground before crashing back down onto its massive wheels. No Name and Cayman loudly laughed and celebrated their ariel feat as the cabin shook from drop. Yoatl rolled his eyes at the pair and continued to comfort the rather nervous panther in the back of the APC with him. All the while, Animal Mother simply enjoyed the chance to travel with decent enough legroom for once.

"This thing is freaking wicked!" No Name cheered as he launched the APC over next hill he could find.

"Man, all we need is beers an' chicks an' this just became mah dream vacation!" Cayman hollered with a jovial laugh.

"I still can't understand how you talked them out of this thing." Yoatl said. "They just handed you the keys to a damnedable panzer and wished you luck. Who in their right mind would do that!?"

"Elves man." Cayman told him. "They got this here innate magic about 'em that makes 'em super charming an' such."

"Bull shit." No Name said with a snort. "That's just rumors and crap. Wasn't any kind of magic with what I did, it was all skill an' all me."

"Try not to stroke your ego too hard there bossman." Salamander's voice chimed in over the radio system. Anyone with any kind of augmented reality vision could see a small jet of flame on the dashboard spark to life. It burned for only moment before shaping and changing to form their missing hacker's matrix avatar. Or at least a one foot tall version of her multi-armed lizard girl sitting on the dash. "I hear you can go blind from that."

No Name shot the tiny visitor a wry grin. "What ya got for us, Sal?"

"As always, it's Salamander, not Sal." She corrected him with a sigh. "As for my end of things, they aren't letting me into the actual ops-center, ass holes have me set up in some side office three doors down from it."

"Can't blame 'em." Cayman said. "Someone who's literal job is to hack stuff an' steal things ain't gonna be welcome in there."

"Tch, show me the record that actually says I've ever committed any crimes." Salamander challenged him.

"Damnit, was hoping they'd slip up and let you in there." No Name admitted. "That slowing you down any?"

"Please, these guys might work for Ares but their networking is a joke." Salamander smuggly declared. "I've got the administrators fooled into thinking I'm running bug hunts while altering security logs to hide little chats like these while I sift through their reports."

"Nicely done Miss Salamander." Yoatl said. "Your talents are certainly worth their price."

"First smart thing I've heard you say, catboy." She replied. "Anyways, I'm gonna get back to the important work here, I've got a set quota of paydata to collect while I'm here."

"Paydata is best data." No Name said in agreement. "Do us a favor, if you can dig up any intel on what Ares is really doing out here-"

"You'll be the first to know." Salamander cut him off.

"Counting on you, Sal." He reminded her. "And be careful, I'm not fond of you being there without any backup and surrounded by armed thugs."

"Didn't think you cared so much, _old man_." She chided him before fizzling out in a plume of digital smoke. "I can watch my back just fine, it's you guys I'm worried about."

"Please." Cayman said with a snort. "We're babysitting a bunch'a farmers, how tough could this be?"

No sooner had the words left Cayman's mouth had the universe decided to answer him. The armor plating near his window sparked with the loud ringing ping of a bullet striking it. It was soon joined by a cacophony of dozens more while crack of assault rifles filled the air.

"Ya just had to say something didn't you," No Name snapped at him and made a hard turn of the wheel. "Animal, get on that gun!"

"With pleasure." He said with a chortle.

The huge troll threw open the hatch to the roof of the transport. A heavy caliber machine gun had been mounted on a turret. Animal Mother's tusks gleamed as he grinned with excitement and cocked the heavy weapon. He brought the weapon around and leveled it with a ridge that overlooked the area and began to fire round after heavy round on the small group of gunmen that had opened fire on them. All the while he let out a jovial roar layered with laughter.

The elf behind the wheel pushed the heavy transport as fast as possible. Through the rain of bullets he just barely noticed the fence he'd turned into a shattered toothpicks beyond a muffled thump. It wasn't until a barn seemed to come out of nowhere that finally slammed on the breaks, after crashing through the wall. Yet somehow Animal still found a reason to keep shooting. Much to his amusement the GPS on his HUD assured him that he'd arrived at his destination.

"Okay, everyone remember where we're parked." No Name called out to the team.

Even with the vehicle half buried, Animal refused to stop fighting, he refused to stop firing rounds on their attackers. His persistence was paid when several of the machine gun's .50 caliber bullets tore one's arm and chest apart in a mist of red. With the loss of a comrade the remaining shooters grabbed their fallen friend and made a quick retreat.

" _Nie uruchamiaj malych swinek_!" Animal shouted at them as they slipped away. "Animal Mother still has many bullet for you!"

Carefully and fully armed, the rest of the team piled out of the APC and scanned about for any other threats. As the quiet persisted the rest of the cowering members of the homestead started to peek their heads out. A few of them had armed themselves with lightweight hunting rifles and anything sharp or blunt to protect themselves with.

From among the frightened farmers an orkish woman stepped forward towards the Shadowrunners. "Thank ya kindly folks, we figured we was done for back there."

Her skin had been tanned by the sun, this plus her athletic build suggested that she wasn't a stranger to working out in the fields. Her long blonde hair had been pulled back into a ponytail to keep it out of her green eyes and freckle smattered face. A small portion of these golden locks were kept under wraps by a wide brim hat that sat atop her head. "Spose y'all are them mercenaries that Ares said they was sending."

"Guessed right." No Name quickly replied. "Cayman, Animal, get our ride out of their barn. Yoatl, I want you and Ralla with me, we're gonna see if we can't pick up their tracks."

With that the team split up to take care of their assigned tasks. Yoatl and his loyal panther followed close behind their heavily armed elf. Animal easily started to lift hefty chunks of debris from the mostly buried battlevan with his cybernetic arm. Meanwhile, Cayman lingered a bit.

"Sorry 'bout the barn, Ms." He said to the orkish woman.

"Shucks, seems like a small price tah pay when ya get'in shot at." She admitted with a bemused grin. "An' which one were you again?"

"Cayman." The gunslinger replied with a confident grin. "Who do I have the pleasure?"

"Jackie." She answered with a bemused smile. "Jackie Cunningham."

"Well Ms. Jackie, I'm just glad mah team an' I were able to help ya when we did. None'a you folks got hurt did ya?"

"Not a scratch. Was the damnedest thing, they weren't sneaky about showing up or nothing. They told us they was on the ridge an' that if we left the farmhouse they'd open fire."

"Guess us roll'in up in a panzer must'a spooked 'em good." Cayman said with a chuckle. "Mighty considerate of 'em to go through the trouble'a corralling y'all like that. Maybe they was plan'in to ransom ya?"

"Maybe." Jackie said. "All I can tell ya is they wanted us out'a the way fer some'in."

"Oi, if you are done making the immigrant do all the heavy work." Animal shouted from the debris field. "I have found something odd about barn."

* * *

Evening was starting to set in when No Name and his hunting party finally returned to the farm. "Okay, what is it you guys said I needed to see?"

"I find this while clearing debris." Animal stated as he motioned towards a heavy metal hatch that was set into the floor.

"An' fer the life'a me Ah've no idea what this is." Jackie added.

There were no latches or any indication of a way to open it, not from this side at least. It looked like it had been there for decades with all the marks on it. What really caught the elf's eye though was the faded symbol that had been stamped on all those papers he'd found their first night in the city.

"Have you tried to get in yet?" No Name asked them.

"How?" Cayman questioned him. "Ain't no handle on the damn thing, no sign of a keypad or noth'in on this side to hack. Thing looks tah be made tah keep folks from get'in in."

"We will see." Animal said with a toothy grin. Before anyone could react or stop him, the troll had already sunk his wide metal digits into the surface of the steel hatch. The sound of groaning metal filled the air followed by the hiss of escaping air before a loud pop. Animal held the hatch triumphantly over his head and proceeded to crumble it into a ball of crumpled metal. "There, door is unlocked now."

"Well, that's one way to do it." Yoatl commented.

No Name took a moment to look down into the darkness before taking out a glow stick from his jacket and let it drop down the hole. The dull neon yellow glow tumbled and shimmered down until it hit the ground below.

"Sooooo, dark scary mystery hole." Cayman cheerfully pointed out. "Who all's go'in down there?"

"Hole is not made for troll." Animal pointed out. "I must remain up here."

"I don't go anywhere without Ralla." Yoatl quickly stated. "Least of all down into dark mysterious pits if it can be avoided. That said, I highly doubt it won't be a chore getting down or out of there."

"I'm going down there." No Name said.

"Alright, boss." Cayman happily cheered. "Let's get move'in man!"

"Alone." No Name corrected him.

"The hell you is!" Cayman snapped at him.

"I can see in the dark and a ton of other spectrums." No Name reminded him with a motion towards his augmented eyes. "Besides, if those raiders double back we'll need every gun we can spare. No worries though, I got a plan to keep everyone in the loop."

* * *

Combat boots clanged off of the metal floor plates when No Name reached the bottom of the pit. The elf scanned the area cautiously with his rifle unslung and ready for any kind of danger. A single shaft of light shone down on him from the open hatch above him. In the darkness his neon blue eyes stood out starkly while their augmentations allowed him to see just fine.

He found himself in a small room with metal walls, floors and ceilings. Overhead hung a myriad of wires, pipes and light fixtures that reached out in every direction. The room itself looked like some kind of checkpoint with a few rusted old tables and lockers. At the end of the room was a bulkhead door.

With a length of fiberwire, No Name's comlink was hooked directly into his datajack. "Sal, do you read me?" He quietly asked out loud.

"Transmission is choppy but yeah." Her voice assured him directly through the link. "And again, it's Salamander. Asshole. Can't believe I'm dealing with this after work. Can't believe I actually worked today, so fucking lame."

"We hear ya just fine too buddy!" Cayman shouted down at him from the top of the hatch.

With a sigh he cycled through several of his eye's vision modes until something popped up on the thermals. Much further in was a very vague heat source that stood out against the darkness.

"Looks like there's something down here giving off heat." He quietly muttered over the comlink. "Gonna go quiet for the time being."

"Good luck boss!" Cayman shouted at him from above again.

For a moment, No Name considered firing a few rounds up the ladder in hopes of maybe hitting the loudmouth gunslinger. Thinking better of it he put the urge out of his mind and headed to the door. He'd have to remember to pistol whip him later or something.

The sounds of creaking metal echoed off the walls with the turn of the wheel set in the center of the door. On the other side was a several corridors that branched in a number of directions. Carefully he made his way through the halls towards the heatsource deeper in this underground complex, scanning every branch and room from with his weapon at the ready. All the while his HUD continued to feed him information along with the idle chatter of his team on the surface.

As he drew closer and closer to the source of the heat, he could hear the voices of his teammates becoming more distorted and staticy. Before long he could only make out every other word in between bursts of white noise. He started to wonder just how many horror movies started this way.

All around him the stale air became colder and colder, feeling like a walk-in freezer. Patches of frost had formed on the walls, pipes and wires while his breath came out in plumes of steam. Sure enough the HUD even confirmed how quickly the temperature had been dropping the deeper he went. It wasn't long before he could feel the bite of the frigid cold air through his leather jacket. Even with his extensive alterations he could feel the discomfort across his skin.

After what felt like an eternity, No Name finally reached his goal, another bulkhead door with a thin layer of ice over it. It took more than a touch of augmented strength to force the wheel to turn and send shards of broken ice tumbling to the ground. The echoing creek of old metal being forced to move filled the icy air when the door was pulled open. From the next room a pale greenish light filled the blackened hall along with a rush bone chilling air.

No Name recognized that the sound of the door would have alerted anything in the next room to his presence, he opted to stop being so sneaky. With a good hard pull he threw open the door and rushed into the room with his rifle raised. What he found however froze him in his tracks and dropped his jaw to the floor.

* * *

Back in Jackie's kitchen, the elven soldier was sipping on a large mug of steaming hot soykaf. The entire team was seated at the table, in Animal's case sitting on the floor near it, along with their hostess/client. Even Salamander had made an appearance in AR form for this meeting. At the center of the dining room table was an AR projection of what No Name had seen.

From his point of view they could see a large room lined with quite a few glass tubes, all of them bearing a shrouded silhouette inside of them. The POV camera moved closer to the tube in front of him and his hand brushed the heavy frost aside. Inside the tube was an old man in suspended animation. A nameplate on the tube read Gnrl Mochio, and the panel connected to it showed there were signs of life.

"An' y'all are telling me that this is under mah home?" Jackie asked with an understandable amount of concern.

"Yeup." No Name replied between sips of soykaf.

"Perhaps this is what those raiders were after?" Yoatl reasoned as he stroked Ralla's head.

"An' why them Ares boys is hiring Shadowrunners to protect this place." Cayman added.

"Maybe." Salamander chimed in from across the matrix. "I was in their system today and saw that they're watching this farm and four others."

"They're keeping an eye out for something important." No Name said. "If they knew what they were looking for and where it was they would send a corporate strike team and just take it. Not hired help like us to sit around and play watch dogs."

"They know something is out in farm lands." Animal added. "Not knowing what this is or worth of it."

"So what do Ah do 'bout all this?" Jackie asked in a huff. "I got maybe two dozen or so popsicle people under mah floorboards!"

"You wanna know what you're gonna do? You're gonna keep your mouth shut about it." No Name replied with a cold tone. "We cover up the hole and never breathe a word about what we found here today. With any luck Ares won't catch wind of it."

Jackie gave the elf an uncomfortable look before glancing around the room full of armed mercenaries and killers. "Ah spose y'all would know best."

"I'll do what I can to fix any reports that crop up." Salamander assured them.

"Now that we got that mess sorted." Cayman broke in with a relaxed smile and a cheerful voice. "How's about Ah whip us up some grub? Least we can do after plow'in through your barn Ms Jackie!"


	5. Chapter 5, What's Your Price?

A loud beeping filled the air and forced a pair of emerald bloodshot eyes to pop open with a spark of rage. With a grumble and a growl Salamander reached over and grabbed her comlink to switch off the alarm. Ruefully she glared at the time, six o'clock in the morning? How anyone functioned before noon was beyond her. With a great deal of reluctance the young hacker forced herself to crawl out of bed in order to get ready for another day of work.

Work. The very idea made her stomach churn. Like some wage slave sucker that lived from paycheck to paycheck. She never understood that mentality. Living safely in your little suburban home with a picket fence and their pet dog. Maybe visiting mommy and daddy for brunch on Sundays? What a joke. But this was her assignment for this mission, even if she hated it.

It burned her up at the thought of how the rest of the team was probably having fun playing on that farm while she stayed behind in this rathole. Even if it was by her own choice, they could have at least tried to make her go.

After she downed nearly a gallon of soykaf and half a box of cereal the young hacker set about finding clothes that didn't reek. With her gear in hand and her trademark parka on, she forced herself to face the day. When she stepped out into the dingey poorly lit halls of the apartment building she was struck by the smell of wet carpet and vomit. Overhead the fluorescent light fixtures flickered in and out rapidly teetering on the edge of going out completely.

Salamander adjusted the carrying strap of her cyberdeck and headed for stairs, the elevator had yet to work since she'd moved in. The stairwell had its own unique bouquet of fragrance, like old garbage and a rotting corpse. It started to bring back memories of a cold wet alleyway. Dark uncomfortable nights spent curled up on a bed of cardboard. The sound of someone screaming in the night and the crack of gunfire that soon followed. She managed to free herself from this hellish memory when she finally reached the ground floor.

The lobby of this crumbling apartment building was only slightly cleaner than the halls and rooms upstairs. It was here that most of the dregs that called this place home tended to congregate. In a corner a strung out junkie was arguing with his dealer over the price of his next fix loud enough for everyone to hear. A trashy looking elven woman was slumped over in a chair with her ear glued to a comlink and complaining about her last job. Then she noticed him, dirty clothes and a thick five o'clock shadow, giving her deck a hungry stare. Instinctively she hurried out the door while reminding herself of the revolver hidden in her parka.

Outside she fumbled with No Name's keys and hopped behind the wheel of his simple four door with a bit of a grin. She might have hated the idea of working an actual job, but on the plus side she got to drive. When the others had left, the elf had tossed her his keys to her with the specific instructions to just drive it back to Spence's. But where would be the fun in that?

Driving had been a fun new learning experience for the young hacker. She'd never driven a car before and there was an interesting feeling of power and freedom that came with it. Even though the ride was on the cheap side. Learning on the fly however had left quite the mark on her, and even more marks on No Name's car. Maybe he wouldn't notice?

A short drive through the city later and she arrived at the Thunderhawks' outpost and nearly almost on time for once. After signing in under yet another made up name with the guys at the gate and a quick pointless browbeating by the lead tech, she was escorted to her "office" and left to her work. The way that guy seemed to think what he did was important was just so pathetic it took what little self control she had not to laugh in his face.

At least she was alone for most of the day. She liked being alone, it was easier to work when no one was around. Even better, she didn't have to hold back as much when there wasn't anyone observing or watching her. With her cyberdeck jacked in and her goggles linked up she let herself tumble back into cyberspace, back into the matrix.

A flurry of code washed over her mind and shook hands with her consciousness, leading her into the digital world. Her mind slipped with ease into her avatar's body like waking up from a dream. All around her the orderly layout of the Thunderhawk systems took on the form of yet another office building. With a sigh she tried her best to ignore the lack of creativity on their parts and got to "work".

All around her the avatars of the actually employed deckers were hard at work managing data, moving information and analyzing this and that. All of them had a rank and file uniform look, a blank humanoid form with only a floating nameplate above their heads to distinguish them from one another. Salamander's smoldering reptilian form with multiple arms certainly stood out like a sore thumb and of course drew plenty of stares from the others.

With their attentions returning to their work none of them seemed to notice just where the smoke billowing off her was drifting. It traveled out of sight of the others and began to twist and form until it created a copy of herself from the thick dark clouds. Silently this shadowy Salamander floated down the corridors of information from node to node.

It was a treasure trove of information, and all of it laid bare for her to sift through. Only the most tantalizing of tidbits were copied and hidden away within the smoke. Field reports about new Ares weapons tests out in the abandoned half of the city, supply truck routes, even the code to a vault in some low rank CEO's office. Both her forms smirked from ear to ear at the thought of all that nuyen this stuff was probably worth. Seeing as this was her last day "on the job" she might as well make the most of it.

Her quiet musing about how she was pretty much robbing these people blind was interrupted however when a message flashed in front of her avatar that someone wanted to speak with her in meat space. Grumbling in annoyance the hacker jacked herself out of the matrix and put her omni-goggles on her forehead. Standing in the doorway was her technical boss for this side mission, Rodan.

"So, this is your last day as a Thunderhawk." The older burly gentleman pointed out.

"Yeah." Salamander curtly replied. "Back to stealing data from big corps to earn a living I guess."

"I figured as much." Rodan said with a nod. "I know the work you did here probably wasn't anything ya'd deem worth your talents, but it was still pretty amazing work ya did."

From behind his back he produced something that actually caused Salamander to freeze up in surprise. A cupcake, the likes of which she'd never laid her eyes on in meat space. It was twice the size of any she'd seen before. The top of this confection was a spiralling mountain of chocolate and white icing that swirled upwards together. Adorning this gift from the gods were wafer cookies that glistened with sugar. She could feel the pool of drool forming in her mouth as she stared at it.

"Normally when someone leaves we give 'em a cake or some'in, figured this would probably work better. Don't gotta share it this way."

Salamander nodded her head excitedly and greedily snatched the cupcake from his hand. She didn't spend much time on ceremony as she started gnawing away at the treat hungrily. Though, she did manage to mutter a thank you to him between mouthfuls of cake.

The drive back into the city proper was a rather quiet one. Simple small talk was passed around the troop transport but most seemed content to return to civilization, save for Cayman. To his elven friend's surprise, gunslinger had been oddly silent since he'd said his goodbyes to Miss Jackie. His gaze was a million miles away and transfixed on the passing greenery outside the window.

"Oi, what's on your mind omae?" No Name asked with a jab at the man's unguarded side.

"Sorry boss, was think'in is all." Cayman replied with a lazy grin.

"Thinking about hanging up the old gun belts?" No Name asked with a bemused smile. "Maybe go settled a nice plot of land and work the soil? Maybe even ask Miss Jackie to marry you?"

"Not likely." Cayman answered a with a snort. "Job just sorta had me think'in about home was all. Been a long time since I left. Hope Ma an' Pa are do'in alright, an' all mah lil brothers too."

"In home country, I leave behind mother, father and little sister." Animal Mother chimed in as he busied himself with gun maintenance. "There is much fighting there, Russians do not like being told to go home. I worry, but I have many friends who keep them safe."

"You have friends?" Yoatl asked in surprise.

"Yes." Animal grumbled. "Ones who know I will kill many of them if my family is hurt."

"Such a dutiful son." The mage commented. "Since we're sharing, my family life is complex and off limits. Do try to remember that."

"What about you boss?" Cayman asked.

"What can I say, most of my direct family was human." No Name said. "After all these decades they've all pretty much died off."

"Didn't you mention ya had a brother once?"

"I did." No Name admitted with some reluctance. "But that was a lifetime ago."

After a few hours of driving the greenery of the countryside was swallowed up by the rock and steel of the city. Fresh clean air was choked from their nostrils and lungs by nearly forgotten scent of the decaying city. The broken skeletal fingers of the crumbling buildings rose up around them in an open embrace to welcome the Shadowrunners home. It wasn't long before the lumbering APC pulled up to the gates of the Thunderhawk base.

Cayman ran his hand along the dashboard with a sad look in his eye when the rumble of the engine quieted down. "Man, I'm gonna miss this ride. Shame we gotta give 'er back."

"Maybe." No Name said with a sly look in his eyes.

"There is no way you can pull that off." Yoatl spoke up when he saw grin spreading across the elf's face. "Not even you could pull that off."

Yoatl sat dumbfounded and annoyed as the APC shook and rumbled over the debris left laying the road. He ran it through his head again. No Name had walked up to Rodan and started chatting with him. They laughed, they exchanged a few more words. Some form of business was passed back and forth between the two, and then Rodan told his men to unlatch the gun from the roof and then handed No Name back the keys and then shook his hand. No, he still couldn't make heads or tails of this outcome.

"Have I mentioned lately how impressive you guys are?" Spence asked as he poured everyone a glass of brandy. "Walking right up to the front door, again, and getting a job from the target, again! I don't think I've ever seen anyone pull that off twice in a row."

"We aim to please." No Name happily declared when he accepted one of the snifter of brandy.

The entire team had been brought into Spence's private study at the back of the restaurant. All of them were more than happy to put another job in the win column and collect their payment. It certainly helped to pad their already rocketing moral to be given a little extra reward for their hard work.

"So, what did we learn about that listening post?" Spence asked before taking a sip from his glass.

"Nothing of any major note." No Name reported before anyone else could answer him. "From all angles that we could see, the Thunderhawks are doing some kind of mercy mission out in the farmlands to drive up public opinion for Ares. You know how it goes, make the masses cheer them on as they set up factories where low income housing used to be."

"Really?" Spence sounded a bit disappointed by this news. "And what about those mysterious raiders I've heard about hitting the farms?"

"Can't tell you much except they aren't gangers." The elf said. "They're organized and use military hit and run tactics. Could be border jumpers from the CAS trying to stir up unrest, or maybe some kind of local militia wanting to make Ares look bad."

Throughout the exchange and small talk, No Name kept a calm and relaxed face that to his credit hadn't faltered yet. He could feel the tension and hint of confusion radiating from his comrades as lied right to their Fixer's face.

"Well, I'd say you five earned yourselves one hell of a bonus!" Spence declared with a laugh. "But, there's one more little thing I'm going to need you to do."

The group shared a confused look with one another before all eyes went back to their host. "I need you to go back there and kill everyone at that base."

"I'm sorry, what?" No Name asked in bewilderment, his placid mask falling from his features.

"The client wants that Thunderhawk base wiped out." Spence explained. "Not just that though, it has to be a straight up slaughter and you're going to do it on camera dressed as one of our city's local gangs. You remember the Crimson Try-Hards right?"

"Now hold one minute!" Cayman loudly protested. "We jus' spent a week work'in with these folks, get'in to know 'em an' such. We can't just go kill 'em like dogs!"

"On top of that, I think killing their CO at the very least would be a big mistake." No Name cautioned. "We've established a rapport with him, he could be a valuable asset."

"He gave me a cupcake!" Salamander loudly butted in.

"You hear that, cupcakes!" No Name added. "We can't just betray the bonds of friendship and cupcakes!"

"Not even for another two thousand a piece on top of the money you're already making?" Spence asked with a grin.

"Can we get a minute to talk this over!?" No Name abruptly asked.

Spence nodded in agreement and left the room to leave his runners to discuss their current options. Options that had filled the air with a sensation of tension that choked the air around them. For the longest time no one spoke a word, only uncomfortable glances passed between them.

"So," Yoatl broke the uncomfortable silence. "How much is our loyalty worth?"

"I don't like the idea," Salamander pointed out. "Rodan was nice to me."

"But that much money," Cayman chimed in nervously. "Fella could buy some real nice gear with that much nuyen. Not to mention it'd keep us fed for a good while."

"He is not wrong," Animal Mother added. "Would come out to almost five thousand for each of us when all payment is added up."

"So after a week of working with these people we're going to just shoot them in the back," Yoatl asked with disgust. "I know we're mercenaries but don't we have some kind of honor?"

"Technically, we only worked with Ms. Jackie an' her people fer a week," Cayman was quick to correct him. "All them Thunderhawks did was pay us for it."

"And as you say, we are mercenaries," Animal loudly countered. "We do what we are paid to do. If money says kill, we kill! If you do not have the stomach for this then maybe you quit catboy."

"What if we could have both," No Name asked the group and caused the argument to stop.

"Not sure I follow ya boss," Cayman spoke up.

"Look, Rodan has a direct line with Ares, he's a too valuable of an asset to lose so soon," he pointed out to the group. "But that payout is way too big to just turn down. What if there was a way to complete this job and make sure that Rodan lives through it?"

"Don't tell me, you have another plan," Yoatl asked with a bemused grin.

"I've always got a plan," No Name reminded him with a smirk.


End file.
